It was dark and cold in the basement. Goosebumps travelled up your exposed skin as well as underneath your clothes, your breath visible in the cold air as it fogged. The shackles around your wrists weren’t particularly helpful either.

The sound of footsteps descending the stairs made you freeze up, but it certainly wasn’t from the cold. The lights were suddenly switched on, causing your eyes to sting and for everything around you to become blurry.

After acclimatising to the light, you noticed a man turning on a lamp with a much more dim light before reaching to turn off the ceiling light. He stood tall, maybe 6’3, dressed in the typical clothes you’d see a bull rider wearing on their day off, shaggy brown hair and tanned skin.

The man removed his hat politely, placing it on the end of the soft bed you were sitting on. He came to crouch down beside the bed, his large hands wrapping around your ankles gently, caressing the skin to help soothe you.

“You don’t know why you’re here? No?” He spoke gently, looking up at you. “Well, my name is Thomas Newton and I used to be in business with your daddy. And he’s got a whole lotta money he’s gotta pay me back, and I’m willing to do anything to get it. Even if I have to kidnap his pretty daughter.”

Thomas stood from his crouching position and grabbed onto a video camera that sat on the bedside table, “We have to make a little video together to send to him, okay?” He was being strangely tender for a man that sent his men to drug you and keep you in a basement.